They do gate the better tournaments to a certain extent as well, as they use a point system, called Tournament Points(TPs) as the buy-in currency. They also have a monthly $10k prize pool tourney which offers the best deep payout structure, paying at least $20 to the top 250, and $1k to first. That said, they do offer a few tournaments with some big first place finishes, like a 7 day cruise, the $5k live WPT buy-in, and boot camp prizes but those are winner take alls, so it's pretty limited.
Keep in mind though that that $15 was for taking 9th in a tournament with about 1780 runners and playing for about 3.25 hours, so in comparison to something like a $2 buy-in tournament on a regular site, its a terrible payout. I hit for $15 last night and I've only been on the site for 10 days and haven't played poker at all in the 3 years prior. If you are looking for small stakes tournaments, it's not awful, as it seems pretty easy to at least make your subscription fee up if you aren't a complete idiot. If you are looking for interesting ring games, it's total trash, as the ring games are play money only and there are no prizes to be had there. Depending on what your goals are, it can be 'okay' or it'll be a total waste.
